Smoke
by Ray Venn Hakubi
Summary: Takes part in the same continuity as Mirrors. Five years ago, the Tome of the Night Sky went berserk. Since then, Uminari city has been relatively quiet, magically speaking. Now, people with mystical talent are starting to dissapear once more...
1. Mysterious Play

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – 'Mysterious Play'**

00.00, 8th August, Downtown Uminari City. Five years after the Book of Darkness case.

"Hey, are you warm enough..?" The speaker was a girl, maybe fifteen years old. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over a black shirt, but despite her yakuza-like appearance her brown eyes were full of worry for her companion.

"I'm fine..." Her companion smiled. "Really." Like her partner, the girl was fifteen and Japanese. Both of them were somewhat rough around the edges, and both clearly needed a good meal and a bath, but second girl didn't have the jacket of the former to cover her cheap T-shirt, and her knee-length skirt was only cotton. She was slightly shorter than her friend, and her hair was dyed a dark red, but that wouldn't last long.

The pair of them were sitting next to each other in the darkness of an alleyway, trying to ignore the stink of the bins at the far end of the cul-de-sac and the cold seeping up from the ground through their think clothes. The girl with the jacket held it open, and the other scooted thankfully inside, snuggling up even as her friend hugged her close.

"What are we going to do..?" The redhead asked. "I... I'm hungry, Kei."

"Ssh, I know. We'll find something in the morning, I promise." The taller girl went silent for a moment, then continued. "You don't have to do this, you know... you could still go home, Miho. I won't blame you..."

"I can't just leave you. Not when it's my fault they... they..." The shorter girl sniffled slightly at the injustice of it. "Besides... I love you, Kei..."

"I know... but it's not your fault. It was going to happen eventually. Even if they hadn't caught us, my parents would have found an excuse eventually." Kei squeezed her girlfriend, comfortingly. "I just can't stand the thought of you suffering through this."

"I'm with you... for that, I can... oh, Kei..." Miho put her arms around Kei's waist, holding her close even as the temperature dropped.

She didn't know how long it was until Kei spoke again, pulling away.

"Miho. Wake up... something's not right." The taller girl stood up, looking around warily. She couldn't say what it was that had set her off, but she'd always been sensitive to unnatural changes in the environment, and her spine was tingling like it had when her aunt had bought that haunted makeneko.

"What's wrong..?" Miho pulled her arms away, standing up and looking around. "It's so cold... it wasn't this cold before..."

Something moved in the corner of her eye, and she span, looking for the source.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Kei growled, bunching her fists. She whirled as she heard Miho shrieking behind her, then darkness overcame her, the last thing she was aware of being horrendous pain in her chest and the smooth touch of what felt almost like scales...

* * *

15.00, 9th June, Yagami residence, Uminari city. One year later. 

"Oh, no, that doesn't look right..." Shamal muttered to herself, reaching forward to adjust the flowers on the table. "Hayate-sama, how do you always make this look so easy?" The knight of the lake muttered to herself in German, scowling.

"It looks fine, mistress." Klarer Wind told her, the rings' dulcet tones speaking the same language. "You worry too much."

"Oh, but I can never get it to look right..." Shamal sighed, her blonde hair flopping forward into her eyes. "Maybe Vita was right, and I'll never get it right..."

"Don't be disheartened. Your cooking has improved hugely." Klarer said, trying to make her feel better.

"I suppose I have enough time to practice... but I get so bored and lonely, staying around the house or base all the time. Why can't I ever get a field assignment with the others?" Shamal knew she was whining, but her frustration had gotten to the point where she didn't care. She was a knight as much as any of the others, even if her speciality was healing and support.

"You should go out and clear your mind. We're spending too much time inside." Klarer told her, reproachfully. "Lets buy things for food and check the opening times at the swimming pool. You need to get in the water again."

"You're right... I guess... but remember you can't talk outside." Shamal reminded her armed device, which offered no response.

Pulling her shoes on, Shamal sighed and opened the door before remembering to take her apron off and hang it up. It was completely at odds with her previous existences, but perhaps that was why a part of her enjoyed the feeling of the ties around her neck and waist whenever she wore the domestic garment. It let her housekeeping instincts come out, and after millennia of nothing but war it was a welcome change.

Klarer Wind had been right. Walking helped her to clear her mind, and the frustrations of trying to learn flower arranging and accounting faded in the face of the clean summer breeze. Selecting the ingredients at the supermarket was a thankfully mindless task, and the knight of the lake even found herself humming softly as she checked the quality of the yam she was considering. At first, her yankii appearance had drawn a few stares from other shoppers, back when she'd first started coming here when Hayate was a child, but by now most of them were used to the (they thought) dyed blonde with the friendly eyes and odd dress sense. She spent some time chatting with one of her friends who lived a few doors down, but eventually she made her excuses and walked home.

She was just chopping carrots when she felt it. Something twitching at the edges of her perception, too far away to pinpoint. It distracted her enough that she cut herself with the knife, and she cursed in a most unladylike manner before healing the cut.

The tugging came again, and, frowning, she called on Klarer Wind and donned her armour before stepping outside to rise into the air and check out the source of the disturbance.

As she flew towards the docks district, where she felt certain she'd detected whatever it was, she marvelled again at the efficiency of the Bureau repair teams. The whole district had been wrecked by the battle between Nanoha, Fate and the Book, but it looked as though the battle had never happened.

She slowed down as she came close to where it had happened, but the energy signature that had attracted her attention had already faded. Letting herself descend, she came to rest on top of a building.

"Klarer Wind, scanning mode, please." She kissed her rings before holding her right hand in front of her. The gems rose from their settings, the ropes trailing behind them as they formed the scrying disk. The glow inside faded until she was looking at an image of the surrounding area. There was nothing out of the ordinary... until she saw a man, looking shell-shocked at the entrance to an alleyway, shopping bags at his feet where he'd dropped them.

"Maybe he saw it..." She whispered to herself before flying towards that location, setting herself down out of sight of the road nearby. Dismissing her armour, she walked around the corner to see the man still standing, frozen.

"Hey... are you okay?" She asked, remembering at the last moment to mimic the local accent.

"Wh..?" He mumbled, then looked at her. "Y... yes, I'm fine. Thank you." He stooped to pick up his shopping bags, then looked at her again. "Um... are you real?"

"Yes. That's a strange thing to ask... what happened?" Shamal blinked at him, then realised she was still wearing her apron and house-slippers. No wonder he found her appearance odd.

"I don't know. I was walking with... oh, god..." He stopped, his expression turning to one of horror. "My wife... something came out of the alley and took her... it looked like some kind of demon... oh, god, oh, god..." He dissolved into tears, and Shamal frowned to herself, looking into the alleyway. There was nothing there now, not even the fading traces of a magical working.

"Come on, we should get you to the hospital, and tell the police. I'm sure they'll be able to help." Shamal took her phone from her pocket and dialled a taxi. It wasn't urgent enough to warrant calling the ambulance out, but there wasn't much her magic could do for shock. She knew she'd have to report this back to the Bureau, but for now she hoped that it was something the local authorities could deal with...


	2. Encroachment

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

**Chapter 2 - "Encroachment"**

02.30, 10th June, Downtown, Uminari City

"Have you found anything?" Hayate heard Signum's mental query, but it was a few seconds until she could respond as she finished her own scan of the area.

"No, nothing. A whole lot of nothing, actually..." She frowned too herself. "More nothing than I should be finding, I think." She told the knight, nonplussed, before speaking aloud. "Rein, analyse the background magic, if you would? Look for any disturbances."

"Sure thing!" The little AI grinned, her eyes going slightly blank as she hovered, upside-down nearby. "Grid strength less than fifteen percent below normal. Flow normal. Oh!" She exclaimed, righting herself. "Flow inverted! I'm being silly. Of course it looks right when I'm downside up!" The AI giggled, then looked at Hayate. "Other than that, normal."

"Thankyou, Rein." She couldn't help but smile to herself as she looked over at Shamal. "Is this the only site?"

"Yes... well.. the only one I've detected. I'm sorry, I should have been able to get here sooner... That poor man's wife. I can't help but worry about her." The knight of the lake sighed, melancholy. "I should be more help..."

"It's fine. You did what you could." Hayate smiled, then sent a message to Signum. "Come down, we're moving on."

"Yes, mistress." The knight of the sword replied, and after a moment she, Vita and Zafira descended from where they'd been maintaining response positions in the sky.

"Do any of you have an idea what we should do next?" Hayate asked once they were settled.

"Only what you've already thought of, mistress. Wait for another spike and go to it. With all four of us on active watch, we should be able to catch it." Signum responded, stiffly.

"That's no good. If everyone is always scanning everything, we'll wear ourselves out." Hayate scowled at the sword knight. "And don't think I missed that 'four' part, either. Six years, and you still consider yourselves the Guardians of the Night Sky. You don't have to do everything without my help, Signum." She admonished the knight, and the guilty looks all round betrayed the fact that it was exactly what they'd been planning.

"Of... of course not, Hayate..." Vita muttered, sulkily. "We were just..."

"I know, Vita, I know. For now, lets just go home. It's late, and this looks like it's going to take a while. We should acclimatise to Japan time as quickly as we can. It might be early afternoon base time, but it's gone midnight here." Hayate patted the knight of the iron hammer on the head, apologetically. "Sorry, Signum, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"That's alright, Mistress. This is a frustrating situation." The pink-haired knight smiled. "For now, though, you're right."

"I'll be easier for me to maintain a scan net if we walk back." Shamal suggested. "And it might help calm us down. I'm sorry for calling you all so suddenly, but..."

"It's fine, Shamal. As long as you call me Mistress, I will come when you call. This is certainly serious enough." As Hayate spoke, they all walked out of the alleyway and back towards the city centre. It was quite a way, maybe half an hour's walk back to the house, but she agreed with the knight. An immediate-response callout was always a high adrenaline event, and they all had a lot of the drug in their systems. The walk would let them cool off enough to think about the next step logically.

They'd been walking for twenty minutes when they heard it. A panicked scream, from one of the alleys just ahead.

"Get away from me!" A woman's voice, and the sound of something hitting flesh. The Wolkenritter didn't waste a moment looking at each other, they just ran around the corner, Hayate in the lead.

It wasn't their mysterious kidnapper, probably, but it was a mugging. A muscular man with dead eyes was trying to grab hold of a woman who looked like she was just on her way home from a night out clubbing.

"Zafira." Hayate suggested, and the guardian leapt forwards, punching the mugger.

"Get offa her." He growled, attempting to intimidate the mugger. In terms of physical strength, they looked about matched, but the mugger didn't respond, simply growling and launching a punch.

"Run, get out of here." Hayate yelled at the woman, who nodded and took off unsteadily. "Vita, make sure she gets home? I think we can handle this."

"Understood." The iron hammer knight nodded and took off after the drunk woman.

"Mistress, something is wrong." Zaphira's voice, the guardian knight grappling with the mugger. "He's..."

A moment later, the mugger broke the grapple, throwing Zafira to the ground. The human-formed dire wolf growled and leaped back to his feet, glowing softly as he summoned magic to enhance his strength, and once more the two were matched... but as Zafira had said, the mugger shouldn't have been able to use all the strength in his muscles, the usual limits his human body put on his strength stopping him using enough force to damage himself.

"Scanning..." Shamal's voice, disturbed. "Oh, my. Mistress, he doesn't have a linker core. Or anything else. That thing isn't human, it's just a body!"

"How is it moving..? Signum assist." Hayate murmured, then commanded the knight. She didn't know if her magic would affect a magically inactive creature - most of her spells were designed to disable enemies for capture, after all.

"There's something animating it, but I can't find out what. The scan just keeps bouncing strange results." Shamal sounded distressed, and justifiably so.

"Rein, confirmation?" Hayate asked, and the AI manifested before looking at the creature and nodding.

"It's a dead body, mistress. The grid is inverted, just like at the event site, for a radius of... um, two meters around it."

"Blast... Shamal, prepare a teleport to send it to headquarters for analysis..." Hayate paused, before whispering. "Forgive me... Fenris Links!" She swept her arm out, the steely grey links of the binding chains flying out as though from her sleeve to wrap around the body, holding it immobile while Shamal finished the long-distance transfer. A few moments later, it faded into the teleport and the chains fell to the floor before dissipating.

"Zafira, Signum, are you alright?" She asked, moving forward.

"I am uninjured." Signum confirmed, nodding.

"A couple of bruises, but I'm fine." Zafira responded. "He was strong, and he didn't seem to feel pain. Good fight."

"No fight is good, Zafira." Hayate told him, admonishingly, and he nodded apologetically.

"Sorry, mistress. Bad choice of words."

"Shamal... tell me as we walk, what do you think happened to him?"

"I... don't know, mistress." Shamal started. "All living things have a Linker Core that connects them to the background magic in the area. In a few creatures, that core is high enough quality to let them use magic. Our devices - my Klarer Wind, and your Scwertkreuz, the Tome and even Rein - simply increase our ability to focus the magic our Linker Cores channel. In most, however, the levels of energy their cores can channel is just enough to let them move around and act normally. If for any reason a creature's linker core is damaged or destroyed, it has an effect on that person... damage usually heals, like what happened when I drained Nanoha-san for the Tome, but a total destruction of the Core means that the person can no longer draw enough energy even to breathe. That's one of the reasons the Book of Darkness was such a hated Logia - it killed innocents to feed the power of its' master."

"So that man - with no Linker core, he shouldn't have been able to move. The fact that he could means that something else was manipulating his body using their own linker core." Signum added, frowning. "It's possible that the two incidents - the disappearing person and the walking dead - are linked, but..."

"It seems a bit of a stretch." Hayate agreed. "So zombies and people disappearing... it's a good thing you called us, Shamal." She smiled at the blonde, who shook her head.

"If they're linked, that means it's happened before... I've failed you, mistress. I should have detected something before."

"Nonsense. You called us now, that's enough. We'll get to the bottom of this. Maybe the healers back at HQ can find a way to heal that poor man." The mistress of the knight sky sounded so hopeful that none of her knights had the heart to tell her that people had been trying to find a way to restore those who had lost their linker cores for a very long time with no success.


	3. Reinforce Zwei

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

Chapter 3 - "Reinforce Zwei" 

12.40, 11th June, Yagami residence, Uminari city

Reinforce was bored. She found that happening more and more recently as her artificial intelligence developed. Which might explain why, when left on her own to look after the house while the others searched the city ("Don't worry, I have Scwertkreuz and the Tome, I'll be fine!"), she was currently pirouetting around the ceiling singing nursery rhymes to herself.

Suddenly, she banged her head on something. It didn't hurt so much as make her feel stupid, especially when she realised that it was the Yaten no Shou. Still, she didn't like feeling stupid, so instead she just grabbed the little blue book in a crushing embrace.

"Oh! I know what I could do!" she chirped to herself, coming down to sit cross-legged a few feet above the table as the book opened itself in front of her.

"Book of Heaven, list known facts." She asked, and the tome's ages flipped until it showed the current information. "An unknown force has been removing peoples' linker cores and animating their corpses... but that shouldn't be possible. Even if you could make the body move, there's almost no chance that your personality would survive to direct it!" She paused as the page turned. It never struck her as odd that she went through her internal database in this way, and none of the others ever commented on it. Then again, most of them didn't take her seriously. It was hard to be taken seriously when you were not only an AI, but your normal form was less than twelve inches tall.

"Besides, there's so few things that can do that to a person... just me, a the Infinity Vortex the Asura was dealing with, the Tome of the Night Sky... no, wait, that's me!" she giggled to herself again. "the ancient Intelligent Device Crying Soul... but that's being looked after by its' owners on Betelgeuse... um... there was that other one... what was it called..? Felt like that.. and that..." She mused, as the book flipped pages to show the diagnostic of the artefact she half-recalled. "S... S... S something, anyway... Ein buried it somewhere, didn't she..? Disabled and buried it... where..?" The sense that something was horribly wrong broke through her musings, and the book snapped shut with a bang as she stood up and looked around.

"Who's there?" She yelled, angrily. Something wrong was in Mistress Hayate's house! She summoned her bureau uniform and put her hands on her hips, scanning the area for whatever it was. Something moved in the corner of her eye, but as she turned to look it disappeared. She had the fleeting impression of scales moving, span to look at it.

"Oh! That's what it was called! Ser..." Her high voice was cut off as the eater of cores closed its' mouth around her physical core.

This time, they all felt it. The gut-wrenching wrongness of the power as it gathered. Even though they were at the four cardinal points of the city, with Hayate at the centre, the Wolkenritter turned as one and sped inland to the house.

"Rein! Where are you?" Hayate cried as she fumbled with the front door lock. When she finally got it open, she looked around desperately, but there was no sign of either the amulet or the floating AI.

"I can't find her anywhere." Shamal frowned as she scryed. "And I can't get a lock on that energy, either! Blast it, why is it so hard?"

"She's not upstairs. I can't find any signs of forced entry." Signum told her as she came back down, sliding her hips around the old, disused chairlift.

"Not in the back either." Vita pouted. "It's not like her to just disappear."

"She must have been taken... what if whatever it was thought she was a person?" Hayate fretted, before bringing her wrist up to her mouth. Chewing on her clothes was a bad habit, but she couldn't hep it when she was this stressed.

"Mistress." Signum's voice as the sword knight forcibly took her wrist away from her teeth. "Calm down. She's a Device. Whatever it is that's doing it to those people can't destroy Rein in the same way. I'm sure she'll be fine."

* * *

09.30, 12th June, T/SAB Headquarters, Midchilda high orbit 

"Admiral Halloun. I've got the reports from the Volkenritter on earth." The petty officer bowed as he entered Lindy's office and put the display crystal on her desk. "In summary, the number of attacks has risen dramatically over the last twelve hours. In addition, Strike Leader Yagami's device has disappeared, presumably in one of the attacks. The creatures they're referring to as Dempies have started appearing in public places as well."

"Blast. This is all we need..." Lindy swore, then swore again. The look on her adjutant's face was a picture. The Admiral _never_ swore. "Between the damage to the base in the accident yesterday, Fate and Nanoha disappearing, and the repairs still needed on the Asura, we just can't catch a break." She paused, trying to calm down. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to shout at you, Ouran. Can you call Admiral Chrono and the Chief Librarian in, please? And get me a cup of tea?"

"Yes, ma'am." The officer saluted and went to fetch her what she needed.

When the two men stood before her, she took a moment to stir the three sugars into her green tea and take a sip before trusting herself to speak

"Chrono, Yuuno. I need you to read this, and tell me what you think." She gave them Hayate's report.

"Well..." Chrono said, eventually. "I know what it looks like, but I don't think it's possible..."

"Do you think we can convince the board of that? Yuuno, is it possible?"

"Mechanically, yes. But you'd need a psychometrist, and she doesn't have one." The librarian said, frowning. He didn't like where this was going.

"The odds are she could find one if she wanted to. It's the second most common psychic phenomena on earth. I don't want to believe it either, but..."

"There's always been the chance of this happening. That's why we agreed to let her join the Bureau. But to think that she'd do it _now_, of all times..."

"Just the fact that all three of us thought of it is enough to indicate that the board will assume the worst. Chrono, what can we do?"

"We'll have to put them into custody until we can prove she's innocent. But to try and resurrect the Book of Darkness..." The younger admiral trailed off, shaking his head. "After everything it did..."

"She cared about Reinforce Ein a lot, though. I don't think she believes it was possible for it to do everything it did as the Book of Darkness." Yuuno suggested. "I feel kind of bad saying it... but we do need to consider this seriously. I hope as much as either of you that its' not true, but..."

"We know. Chrono, can I leave this in your hands? I need to work out what I'm going to tell the money."

"Of course, mother." He stood and went to choose his teams.


	4. Suspicion

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - "Suspicion"**

10.30, 13th June, Yagami residence, Uminari city

Chrono held up his hand, palm flat. His team were all shrouded by one of Chrono's more specialised Barrier spells. This one acted like a sheet of lead, blocking the magical signatures that a linker core gave out even when inactive. Without it, they would surely have been discovered already.

One by one, he closed his fingers. When his fist was shut, Yuuno dropped the barrier at the exact moment the team of Bureau mages activated their barrier jackets and swarmed into the house.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on here?!" Vita asked, jumping to her feet and growling as they surrounded the four humanoids at the table while two other mages aimed their storage devices at Zaphira where he was laying beside the breakfast bar.

"Stinger Snipe." S2U's musical voice intoned, the electric blue whipcord slashing through the air to knock Graf Eisen's amuet from her hand. The whip rose into the air over the table, becoming a spiral that slowly rotated, menacingly.

"Yagami Hayate. Under the authority of Internal Affairs and in relation to the reopening of the Book of Darkness case, you and your subordinates are being placed into custody." Chrono decreed, coldly.

"What? How dare you!" Without her device, Vita was somewhat limited in her options, but even so she was a force to be reckoned with. "Seele..." She started, raising her hands and calling power between them.

"Vita. That's enough." Hayate's voice, calm as ever, stopped her.

"You knew this was going to happen, mistress?" Even Signum sounded surprised.

"It was inevitable. The board of directors will have seen a report by now, and even I would find it suspicious. There's nothing Admiral Lindy can do."

"I'm glad you understand." Yuuno's voice - now Hayate _was_ surprised - came from behind Chrono. After a moment, the librarian stepped into view. "You have to admit, any way you look at it, especially with what I've found, this looks bad for you."

"But we haven't done anything!" Vita again, still outraged.

"Right now, that's beyond the point." Hayate said. "However," she paused to sip her tea, "This will only be until you locate Rein and prove that she's not the one attacking people, correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Chrono nodded. "Until we can prove that the events of the past year were not your fault."

"Year?" Hayate looked up at him, her eyes widening slightly.

"You didn't know?" Chrono sounded almost amused. "People have been disappearing under mysterious circumstances for the past year. No trace the mortal authorities could find. No magical signature that our people picked up, or it would have been found before now. Unless, of course, our people here - that, invariably, being one of your Knights - had known about them but not reported them."

"Oh dear. It really does sound bad." Shamal muttered, starting to come out of shock.

"We will co-operate with your investigations fully, of course." Hayate said, though most of her attention was on Vita. The argmentative, confrontational Hammer Knight could well be a source of trouble if she wasn't taken firmly in hand.

"Prepare to be teleported. The Asura is still in drydock since it suffered some serious damage to the control systems when the dislocation occured at the base, so we're going straight there." Chrono told them, eliciting confused looks.

"Dislocation? Why haven't we been told anything about this? What happened? Is everyone okay?" Hayate asked, looking concerned.

"There were only two casualties, and we're still looking for them. Apart from that, the shields on the room it occured in were blown out and someone knocked a bucket of cleaning fluid over on the Asura's bridge, taking it out of action. This occured at eleven hundred hours yesterday." Chrono said, his voice going oddly cold again in the same way it usually did when he had to talk about something unpleasant.

"The cause of the disturbance is... is unknown. But the current theory is that it was a... a resonance event between two Intelligent Devices... since we've s-seen such a thing happen before..." Yuuno finished, emotion choking his voice.

"Who? Who were the casualties?" Hayate looked from one man to the other, fearing from their reactions that there were only a very few people it could have been.

"SO Fate T. Halloun and CI Nanoha Takamachi." Both men said with a dangerous finality.

19.44, 13th June, Downtown, Uminari City

"Yuuno. Have you made any progress?" Chrono spoke into a commlink rather than telepathically. The librarian was too far away for that, back on the base questioning the knights in case there was anything that wasn't in the report. '_That, and they still might be the ones doing this..._' He grimaced to himself.

"Nothing new yet. How about you?" The librarian's voice was distorted slightly by the distance and electronics.

"No sign. It's like she just dissapeared. I'm starting to get worried." Chrono confessed, guiltily. "It hid so well before..."

"I'm sure you'll find her. Rein isn't the Yami no Shou. Remember that. Yuuno out." And with that, the link went quiet.

"This is unit three, requesting immediate reinforcements! Something's here!" The comm cracked again, one of his search teams on the ground alerting him to what was happening. Before the link closed, however, he heard screaming in the background. Stopping dead in the air, he turned and raced towards team threes' last known position. He found them before he reached it, however. The single remaining mage was sheltering behind a dome shield as his attacker slammed its' body into it repeatedly. Chrono couldn't see the other two members of the team.

"S2U, run through space to silver wings! Gale Blade Blast!" Chrono cast, making a slashing motion with his staff in the direction of the giant snake that was starting to batter down the Bureau mage's shield. The vacuum blades themselves failed to penetrate its scales, but the kinetic force of them managed to throw the massive serpent away. It coiled, rearing back before hissing once and raising its head as though to strike. Instead, however, it twisted and struck at the ground, passing through it as though it were water.

"Rekishi, are you alright?" Chrono asked his mage, floating down to stand beside the mage. His barrier had failed the moment the snake had fled, and he looked shell-shocked.

"Dead..." He whispered.

"Rekishi, wake up. What happened?" Chrono put his hand on his subordinates' shoulder, looking into his eyes.

"It ate them. It came out of nowhere and ate Barnez and Ellis..." The mage was definitly shellshocked.

"Damn. Rekishi. Go back to the house and request a transfer to base. Go, now." He turned the mage around and pushed him gently, and, zombielike, he started walking back to the Halloun residence on Earth. Once again, it was acting as their field base while the Asura was being repaired.

"Sir, its here!" The comm crackled again. "This is Unit Two! It's the book of darkness!" The link was cut with a scream of pain before it activated again. This time, the voice was different, cold and distant.

"Your mages are dead. Leave this place. The Yaksha Stone is awake. I cannot fight it. The Yaksha Stone is awake. I cannot fight it. The..." The cold, dead voice of the guardian form of the Tome of the Night Sky kept repeating the phrase, over and over.

"Reinforce Zwei! What is your location?" Chrono pressed 'transmit' on his comm, but knew it was worthless. The radio links were two-way - as long as the talk button was depressed on the unit, it couldn't recieve messages. As soon as he released his own PTT, the mantra resumed.

"The Yaksha Stone is awake. I cannot fight it. The Yaksha Stone is awake. I cannot fight it."


	5. The Stone of Yaksha

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

Chapter 5 - The Stone of Yaksha

21.00, 13th June, T/SAB Headquarters, Midchilda high orbit

Hayate was pacing, but she couldn't help it. Her daughter was missing, and she was trapped up here when everyone _knew_ that the disappearing people were nothing to do with her! Though she'd managed to put on a brave face in front of the others, as soon as she'd been alone that mask had shattered. Then when questioning her had been made the task of Yuuno and Alex, she'd nearly felt like they actually believed it might have been her... even the fact that they'd called in her civilian friend to build the case against her had hurt, even if she knew in her head that he was the closest thing to an expert they had.

"Hayate." Chrono's voice. She turned to look at him, standing in the doorway of the interview room she'd been placed in. He was still wearing his battle armour, a light coating of dust greying his features.

"Did you find her?" Hayate's breath caught on her stress as she rushed over to him, skirting the table to stand in front of him, hands worrying each other in front of her.

"That's.. we aren't sure." He leaned on S2U heavily. "We hope not."

"Why?" His words hit her like a sledgehammer. "What... what's happened to her? My Rein..? Is she alright?"

"One of my squads encountered the final form of the Book of Darkness core programming. Shortly afterwards, we recorded this from their communication circuit." He took a playback unit out and pressed the button. The voice was clearly that of the Tome of the Night Sky, thick with regret as it repeated over and over the same phrase.

"The Yaksha Stone? What's that?" Hayate asked, her blood running cold. "Whatever it is, if it's done something to one of my children, that's unforgivable! You have to let me search with you!"

"I can't. If only because you're so close emotionally. Regardless of the fact that you're under suspicion of murder and conspiracy, I can't let anyone go out there in your current mental state." Chrono wasn't in the least bit apologetic, having gone into full 'admiral' mode. "You need to calm down. You're useless to everyone in this state."

"Useless..?" Hayate stopped, the wind going out of her sails. "At least take Shamal. She's the best scrying specialist the Bureau has."

"I'll see. Yuuno is coming with us, since he knows the area. Repairs to the Asura have finally been completed, so we'll ship out in the morning. I'll have you transferred to the brig before we leave. For now, let me take you to see your knights."

Elsewhere, things were proceeding rather less smoothly.

"Mou!" Vita growled as she glared out of the barred cell she was sharing with Zafira. "How dare they do this and not let us see Hayate?!"

"Calm down." Shamal pleaded from the next cell. "Hayate asked us to wait, so..."

"Anh." Signum grunted from the same cell "It will be sorted out soon. Halloun had no choice."

"We should be solving this quickly so we can go look for Nanoha! She might be in danger..." Vita continued as though she hadn't heard.

"You're becoming obsessed with that girl, Vita-chan. Should I be jealous?" Hayate's voice broke them out of their collective depression.

"Hayate!" Vita cried, bashing her hand against the bars of the cell to show her frustration.

"Hayate-sama. What news?" Zafira rumbled as he padded forward on silent claws

"Chrono has found Rein... we think, and seen the face of the enemy." Hayate paused, uncertain as what exactly to tell them.

"Something is wrong, Mistress, isn't it?" Signum prompted her, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

"I... yes. Rein has reverted to her old form, and attacked several Bureau clerks. From what we can tell, the thing that was killing those people is controlling her. She was just saying the same thing, over and over..."

113.00,314th June, T/SAB L-class Patrol Ship "Asura" T/SAB Dockyard, Midchilda High Orbit

"You're sure that's what she said?" Yuuno's voice was slightly distorted by the transmission, but his face showed some consternation. He was in the library, researching dimensional dislocations to try and find some clue as to where Nanoha and Fate had gone.

"Yes. The Stone of Yaksha. Do you know anything?" Chrono asked from his quarters on the Asura where he was setting up his command centre.

"Can you just describe to me what you saw again?" Scrya asked, but he wasn't looking at the camera any more, instead peering at a screen to his left.

"Like a great snake that swallowed two of my men and dove through solid rock." Chrono grimaced. "My attack seemed to hurt it, but I don't know how much."

"Well, there are some old earth legends about a Yaksha demon… an Indian mythic beast. Ah… I can't quite make out the translation, though. My Hindi is pretty poor… Some kind of nature spirit. Myths conflict, but the Yaksha is either a benign wood-faerie of some kind of a cannibalistic ogre. Often given a lot of snake iconography… There's also a reference to a… ah! This looks more hopeful. Around the warring states period in Japan… specifically around the end, fifteen ninety-eight. A man named Sanada Noboyuki disappeared on a trip for some time before returning to defend the Sanada ancestral home in Ueda. The reference is that he returned with several mystical artefacts, including the Stone of Yaksha. The stone was meant to nullify the magic of the Tokugawa Shugenza. Sanada lost the battle, however, and the stone disappeared."

"So why has it resurfaced now? That was well over four hundred years ago." Chrono scowled. He didn't like mysteries. Unlike his librarian friend, it seemed.

"Well, I don't know for certain, but if the Stone was a mystical artefact, it may have been dormant until a significant magical event provided enough of a jump start to awaken it."

"A significant magical event? Like what, exactly?" The admiral's voice was tight, warning the librarian that he had better cut to the chase.

"Like… Fate's attempt to activate the remaining Jewel Seeds, seven years ago, or the final battle with the Defence program the year after that, shortly before the disappearances started." Yuuno paused for a moment to check something before continuing. "If we search the areas most affected by those two attempts, we may be able to pinpoint the Stone. If we sealed that, then we'd only have the Yami no Shou to deal with." Another pause, then a hopeful tone entered his voice. "Maybe not even that, if Hayate can override whatever the Stone has done."

"Lets make it happen. I want you there with us. I don't like having to go in to a situation like this with my eyes shut, and you're the best scryer – sorry, that was bad – we've got."

"I think I can manage that. What about Hayate and the Knights? Are they..?" Yuuno asked, uncertain.

"Still under suspicion, I'm sorry. They won't be able to help. It'll just be you, me, and my Asura mages. I've got four squads ranked A, including two S-rank mages aboard, so it should be enough."

"Lets hope it is. I have an unsteady feeling about this." Yuuno closed the conversation before Chrono could ask what he meant.

16.00, 14th June, Downtown, Uminari City, Earth.

"It doesn't look like much, does it?" S-rank mage Petty Officer Yanagi muttered. He, along with Admiral Chrono, the mages of A-rank squad Lambda and the civilian librarian were standing on the same spot that one of the flame pillars had risen during the battle with the Tome before it went berserk. Yuuno had already set a barrier to keep them from prying eyes, but still he felt awfully exposed standing on a street corner of a non-awakened world in his armour.

"No, it doesn't. The cleanup crews did well." The librarian himself answered. Despite himself, Yanagi couldn't help but wonder why the civilian was with them. He wasn't part of the Bureau, so he didn't have a mage rank, but whatever his private powers the librarian – for all his fearsome reputation – didn't look all that impressive. "It is, though. The magic that was focussed on this one spot alone cost the lives of several B-rank equivalent magical creatures to obtain."

"That… is a lot of power." Yanagi acquiesced, nodding. "How could we have been so arrogant not to think something like this would happen?"

"We were happy, and flushed with success. We'll be more careful this time, do a thorough search and find anything we might have set off by accident." Chrono noted decisively. "Yuuno, if you would?"

"Right, right. Sorry." The changeling nodded and got to work, sitting cross-legged in midair and calling up several screens.

"So!" One of the marines said, brightly. "Anyone up for Dead Man's Hand?" He asked, pulling out a pack of cards.

Ten minutes later, they all felt it. A shockwave passed over them, and each man looked up as they jumped to their feet. In the grey light of the barrier, the ebon robes and wings of the Book of Darkness' core program seemed to glow with the vividness of their hue.

"Diabolic… Emission…"


	6. Assault

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

Chapter 6 - Assault

08.00, 15th June, Briefing room, T/SAB L-Class Patrol Ship "Asura", Earth High Orbit.

"What exactly are we looking at, Commander?" Chrono asked, the faint traces of healing tissue still lending a slightly grey cast to his features. He, Hayate, the Wolkenritter and Amy Limietter, along with the leader of the Asura's five remaining marines, were looking at an image in the centre of the ship's briefing chamber. Stretching almost a mile from end to end, the cavern the image looked over was lit up like a natural cathedral, or perhaps the throne room of some ancient king. In the space between the point of view and the other end of the chamber, the room was filled with ranks of dead-eyed humans, their shoulders slumped and no sign of life other than the fact that they were standing.

"Using the signal from Yuuno's communication device, I've tracked him to this location. It's somewhere in the catacombs in the mountains behind Uminari, but deeper than the city records show there being any burials. I managed to infiltrate a probe this far in, but..."

The image zoomed in on the far end of the chamber, or perhaps the camera itself was moving, as it brought the dais there into focus.

"Is that... Yuuno!" Hayate realised as she saw him, slumped much like the inanimate dempies in front of him. Yuuno, however, seemed to be unconscious rather than dead as his eyes were closed and he was sitting, propped up, in a stone chair. Two girls flanked the chair, looking exactly like the dempies except for the fact that they seemed to be active, scanning the area with shark-like eyes. They looked about fifteen years old, or had been before their apparent deaths, uncut black hair falling in a tangle around their shoulders. Each held a short, ceremonial-looking knife, the taller in her right hand, while the shorter girl, whose' more feminine clothes made her seem the softer of the two held her athame in her left hand. They stood either side of the throne with their blades on the outside, clearly honour guards rather than executioners. Suddenly, a pale, fine-boned hand appeared in the foreground of the image and the camera shook as someone turned it. The view swivelled to show the face of the Book of Darkness' final form. No tears left tracks in her face, and her eyes were almost as inert as the zombie horde's. Almost. There was a longing there, a desperation that wrenched at Hayate's heart.

"Rein... we have to go in there and rescue them." She declared, as though another course of action was available. "You can't keep me out of this fight, Chrono. You need my Knights." She looked at the admiral, almost challengingly.

"Of course. You're our only hope of recovering the Tome. If it doesn't recognise you as its mistress, then there's nothing we can do." Chrono reminded her with a smile.

"Besides," Amy piped up with a grin. "This version doesn't seem to have a defence program ready to go berserk at any moment, which suggests that the Stone has just re-skinned Rein. Hayate should have no trouble whatsoever in activating her control protocols again, no matter the nature of the Stone's hold on Rein." As they talked, the image disappeared into a fuzz of static as the Tome destroyed the scout probe. "Damn. We need to move fast, in case they decide to relocate now we know where they are."

"Did you manage to get a reading on Yuuno? Is he still... I mean..." Shamal asked, dry-washing her hands. "He looked like he was unconscious, but..."

"The scan showed that he's alive, but his magical field is severely disturbed. Hopefully, it'll be nothing you can't fix, Shamal." Amy smiled. "Don't worry, he'll be fine if we get him out of there before anything else is done to him."

Behind the others, Vita and Signum shared a look. Somehow, after chasing their own tails for so long on this, to find their enemy so easily seemed almost too good to be true.

* * *

09.30, 15th June, Subterranean chamber, Uminari City, Earth

In the end, they decided to do it the simple way. Two teams, each with an objective. Hayate, Signum and Zafira would teleport in to the entrance end of the chamber where Rein seemed to be stationed while Shamal, Vita, and two of the marines fit for active duty secured Yuuno. The Marines were both A-rank, the lowest who could qualify for ship-board duty, but everyone else, including the Admiral, were still recovering from the Tome's attack the day before. Shamal could only do so much, and she'd forced herself to conserve some energy for this very purpose.

The first snag hit when they realised that there was a barrier over the chamber, meaning that they couldn't just teleport straight in. Instead, they were forced to appear in a cave nearby and walk the last part.

"Scwertkreuz, Load Cartridge." Hayate commanded when they reached the edge of the barrier, flicking the cross-head of the staff out to one side as it complied then lifting it above her head. "Dragons of ancient wrath from mists beyond time. No shield stands before your fangs, no army can face your power. Niflheim Fury!" She slashed downwards with the staff, a rent opening in the barrier, trails of fog forming a barrier of their own to hold the breach open while the seven madoushi ran inside. Immediately, they took to the air, Hayate, Vita and Signum calling on Sleipnir's Wings while Zafira simply rose into the air under his own power and Shamal called upon her own levitation spell. The two marines cast their own flight spell, Aerial Ether, and waited for the anti-Tome unit to engage. They did not have to wait for long.

"Thor's Ire!" Hayate called, throwing a bolt of lightning at the Tome even as Zafira and Signum threw themselves into close combat. Vita took Shamal, and the four mages boosted over the heads of the activating dempies to reach the throne. Their paths were blocked by the two girls, barriers expanding silently from their daggers to block the attack spells.

"The hell?" Vita grumbled. "These two are casting spells!" She messaged back to the Asura.

"I see. They may not be dead. Capture them if you can." Chrono's voice came back over the link, and all four heard him.

"Damnit, I'm no good at binds!" Vita grumbled, while the Marines glanced warily at each other.

"I'm a binding specialist." Roy, the younger of the two admitted. "But I can't bind through shields."

"Well, that's no problem! Set binds to catch them the instant the barrier goes down." Vita grinned. "Graf Eisen, load cartridge!" She held the hammer above her head.

"Explosion!" The device acknowledged. "Raketen Form." As the armed device changed, Vita brought it around behind her ready to attack...

"Iron Yoke!" Zafira cast chains even as Signum shattered the Tome's barrier with her flaming Levantine.

"Scwertkreuz, sealing form, set up." Hayate commanded, bringing the staff up in front of her. The horizontal spikes folded up and small vents opened between the head and the cartridge magazine, white energy vanes igniting.

"Das siegeln der weise. Zur seite stehen. Bereit." The now trident-like device responded with a growl.

"Eternal Sky, Artefact Seal! Fuin!" Hayate called, ribbons of white light leaping from Scwertkreuz to wrap around the bound Tome.

"Siegeln."

"Artefact serial UD002, Reinforce Zwei, Seal." As the bands contracted, forcing the Tome's form to revert, she continued. "Unlock administration options, magical signature Yagami Hayate, Mistress of the Night Sky. Enforce recovery protocol five four seven three nine. Activate Unison Mode, Subject: Yagami Hayate. Release seal." As the Tome finally became Reinforce Zwei once more, the Serpent's hold broken, Hayate reached out to touch the small device. With a flash of light, they merged, Hayate's hair bleaching white and her armour becoming more decorated.

"Unison complete." Reinforce declared with Hayate's voice. "Unison boost operating at minimum level."

"It worked, mistress?" Signum asked with a concerned frown. Zafira reverted to dire wolf form, his magic charged and ready in a pattern he appeared to stand on.

"Yes, it worked. Now, to deal with these, before the Stone awakens them." Hayate grinned, then turned to the room of dempies. "Chariot from beyond the rainbow bridge, come to earth to bring these souls to their final rest! Freja, bless these fallen warriors in your hall! Valkyrie Kiss!" As she swept her Scwertkreuz across the room, a thousand beautiful men and women spawned, each one close to their chosen victim, and wrapped themselves sinuously around the soul-reft humans before kissing them. As each human was kissed by their shadow-lover, the bodies fell to the floor, devoid of any residual animation. "And now for the keepers..." She murmured, and together the three mages flew to where Vita was shattering barrier after barrier to allow Roy and Gareth to bind the two athame-wielding girls.

* * *

16.00, 15th June, Sick Bay, T/SAB L-Class Patrol Ship "Asura", Earth High Orbit

"He should wake up soon, but I don't know about the girls. The Stone had them for so much longer..." Shamal sighed as she turned the lights off. "Mistress, Admiral, if you would?" She gestured towards the door. "They need rest, that's all I can give them now."

"Alright. Do you have any estimation of when they'll wake up?" Chrono asked, worriedly. Yuuno was his friend, after all, and it _was_ his fault the civilian had been there.

"Tomorrow, maybe the day after, for Yuuno." Shamal shrugged. "I can't say closer than that, I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Chrono, what did you do with the Stone around Yuuno's neck?" Hayate smiled, then paused. "That was the Yaksha Stone, wasn't it?"

"Yes, we think so. Amy's analysing it in the repair bay right now." The admiral replied as Shamal closed the door behind them.

In the darkness of the medical suite, Yuuno's eyes cracked open and a cruel smile crossed his lips.


	7. Serpent

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the worlds in this fic, or anything else portrayed. I did create the villains and story, though. They're not really worth taking, but if you do, just let me know if you would. Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Maho Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's were produced by Ivory and Seven Arcs.

* * *

Chapter 7 - "Serpent"

18.00, 15th June, Bridge, T/SAB L-Class Patrol Ship "Asura", En Route to T/SAB Main branch HQ.

"Team three to engineering, team two, prepare firefighting equipment." Chrono continued issuing orders as another explosion rocked the Asura. "Engineering, status report!"

"The fire is spreading through decks three and four. The device maintenance bay is cut off. The attacker is moving towards that location. Response from the infirmary is negative." Engineering Officer Garret Yverland told him, reading off from his screens. "Eraj-Valhn generator offline. Brace for transition into realspace."

The whole ship shuddered as the field that kept them in dimensional space failed, almost throwing several of the bridge crew to the floor despite the warning.

"Attacker positively identified. Sir, it's Yuuno Scrya!" Sensor Officer Randy Lakeford reported from his station.

"He's reached the maintenance station. The stone is activating... sir, they've entered Unison." Amy reported, chewing her lip. "What should we do?"

"Where are the Wolkenritter?" Chrono asked, frowning and fingering Durandal's card in his pocket. "Dispatch them to meet the Stone head-on. They are to disable and bind Scrya. Commander Limietter, I know he was working on an AMF, how far did he get with it?"

"Not far enough, it's not ready." The information specialist called up another screen. "It works in ten second bursts, but then it burns itself out and needs rebuilding. The unfinished unit is in his quarters."

"It might be able to buy us time. The stone has taken over his body?" Chrono was using his 'Admiral' voice. When Amy confirmed, he continued. "Divert Knight Shamal to his quarters to get it. If we can talk to Yuuno, we may be able to get him to force the stone out of his mind."

18.10, 15th June, Deck 4, T/SAB L-Class Patrol Ship "Asura", In orbit around unknown desert world.

"What's the plan?" Hayate asked, glancing at the monitor keeping pace with her as she and her Knights, minus Shamal, ran towards the maintenance bay. She, Signum and Vita were in their uniforms, Zafira loping along in his dire-wolf form.

"Shamal is retrieving an experimental Anti-Magic Field generator from Scrya's room. You three need to keep him busy until she can get here and use it to break the link between him and the Stone. It won't last long, so you'll have ten seconds to find out if he can take control back." Amy told her. "If it's impossible, then…" The brunette grimaced, not finishing the sentence. "Anyway, the dimensional transfer drive isn't working, so you'll need to be prepared for a long-term confinement."

"Understood. We'll engage and hold them in the maintenance bay. Scwertkreuz, set up." Hayate replied, flicking the device out to the side as it went into Device mode. "Bestow upon me my armour." The device complied, even as Signum and Vita activated their own devices and Zafira shifted to human form.

"Land of shadow and mystery, pave our way through fire and darkness! Niflheim Shroud!" Hayate cast, sweeping her Scwertkreuz through the air as the spell summoned a freezing mist that suppressed the flames and hid them from view.

The attack came once they had arrived in the maintenance bay. Hayate and Zafira threw up barriers immediately, all four Velka knights sheltering from the green-black blast.

"The bookworm was this powerful?!" Vita growled, incredulous. "Impossible..."

"The stone is in Unison with him, so it's like his entire body is a device. On their own, no mage could ever handle this much power." Rein told them. "Mistress, lets combine! I'm more powerful than some rock!"

"No, combine with Zafira. We need to hold him until Shamal gets here." Hayate told the device, but before anyone could move, the attack abated and their quarry floated forward through the flames. His legs hung uselessly together beneath him as he floated on a wave of magic, arm held out to the sides as though loosely crucified. Their friends' face was transformed by the influence of the Stone, his blonde hair bleached white by the power he was channelling and his eyes burning silver. His normal robe was changed, too, an encarmine gemstone with the grinning face of a cobra carved in relief upon it and the beige cloth dyed the rust-red of dried blood. Only the green cloak and silver decoration remained the same.

"I'm so glad you could join us..." The voice wasn't - quite - Yuuno's, though it certainly came from the same vocal cords. "This one has such delicious secrets, things he'd never tell. And such hidden strengths... a good host, but somehow, I think you'll be better! Now that I have his knowledge..." A devil's smirk crossed those not-quite-familiar lips.

"Release him! You're a device, you have no right to control him!" Hayate growled. Yuuno was one of her friends, even if he wasn't _nakama_ the way her Wolkenritter were. "Give him back his body!"

"No! Why should I? You say I'm just a device, but what about them! Puppet-programs of the one who destroyed me! Your precious Book of Darkness thought the same of me, but now it is gone, and _I_ am the one to stand free with a body!" The Stone raised his arms, gathering energy. "I am the Serpent, with the Midchilda-mage Yuuno Scrya. Ignorant humans called my the Stone of Yaksha, and by that power I will be free! Damocles Destiny!" He cast the spell, hurling a ghostly-appearing sword straight at Hayate. Zafira threw up a shield, but the blade passed straight through it without disrupting the pattern. Likewise, it passed through Scwertkreuz' auto-barrier to pierce Hayate's heart. She screamed, briefly, as she felt a burning like a million ants biting her at once, then the pain faded and she able to push herself to her feet.

"A torture-spell..." She growled, knowledge filling her mind as the Tome in her left hand analysed the attack and formulated a defence that would work.

"Ahh, yes, it hurts..." Serpent smirked. "A secondary affect..." He started chuckling. "Fang Fury!" He thrust his hand at Signum, a snake-headed energy blast lunging at her.

"Laevantine." She muttered, and her device responded with a cheerful; "Panzergeist!" as the pink armour appeared around her. "Load Cartridge." As the device complied, she channelled the power to activate the flames of hell before lunging at the Serpent.

"Shiva! Protection!" Serpent held up a hand, a familiar shield opening up from his palm to block the attack.

"Break through! Inferno Sword!" Signum growled, fighting spirit filling her eyes with cold death. "Höllenfeuer!" Laevantine responded, firing the other two cartridges in its internal magazine as the flames intensified. After a moment, the shield cracked, green lines of energy shattering to let the attack through. Most of its energy expended, the blade still smashed through the Serpent's armour to throw him backwards into the inferno raging behind.

"Oh, you'll pay for that!" His voice echoed, and a moment later more aetheric snakes struck forth, the first few parried by Signum, or restrained and crushed by Zafira and Hayate's binds and shields. eventually, though, several got through to coil around all three, binding their limbs to their sides and crushing, becoming more solid even as the two Guardians and their mistress felt their power being drained by fangs that met through their souls, even though their flesh was left untorn.

"Perfect... that's a good position for you, Signum." The Serpent stepped forth even as the pink-haired swordswoman fell to her knees. "And Hayate... you look sexy today, struggling for breath and movement..." He smirked. "Yuuno agrees with me, even though he'd never say it even to himself. But what would you really expect from someone who knows so many different Binding spells?" He laughed again, then frowned slightly as something clattered into the hallway, seemingly from nowhere. "Eyes of Truth." He cast, looking around as his blue-on-blue eyes started to glow.

"Don't bother. I'm not the one you should worry about anyway..." There was nothing kind or motherly about the smile on Shamal's face as she released the invisibility spell. Rather, the support mage looked dangerous, as though she were capable of tearing him apart with her bare hands. Serpent pulled back for a moment before looking down at the object she had tossed at his feet.

"What's this..?" He looked down at it, then his eyes widened and he stepped back further. "No, it's not ready. You can't bluff me. AMF indeed... I know everything Yuuno does, you can't expect to catch me out like that." He stooped to scoop the device into his hands, then checked himself as he saw the flashing light on the far side.

"Activation!" The small device declared in Yuuno's voice before a shockwave expanded from it. The wave washed away the Unison marks on Yuuno, disintegrated the serpents around the three Knights, and extinguished some of the flames that were threatening to overtake the corridor... as well as dispelling Hayate and Signum's jackets. Yuuno fell to his knees, then his hands, panting even as Hayate pushed herself upright, using Schwertkreuz as a staff.

"Yuuno... are you..?" She asked, taking a half-step forwards.

"Ah... stay back, it'll be back in a few seconds... no time... Absorption." Yuuno spoke in his own voice, trying to get his message across before the field burned out. He looked up, their eyes meeting for a second before the AMF collapsed.

"Bah..." The Serpent sneered as he stood up again. "What kind of foolish plan is that?" The Unison marks reformed, bleaching his appearance even as the knights restored their barrier jackets and Reinforce restored her own Unison with Zafira.

"A good one." Hayate growled. If she got it just right... but she wasn't good at regulating her power on her own. "Rein, deactivate Unison and combine with me!"

"Hai!" The small girl chirped, cheerfully even as Zafira faded to his normal hue and Hayate bleached. Arrakis eyes met Arrakis eyes along the hallway, and Hayate spun Schwertkreuz out to the side as she raised her left hand. The Tome opened, hovering in front of her open palm, and turned to a blank page. "Please, let Yuuno resist..." She whispered, before invoking the power of the Tome.

"Absorption!" It declared, starting to glow. "Anfang." Tendrils of power reached out, questing, until they found the edges of the Serpent's barrier jacket. They latched on, feeding, and Serpent screamed in anger and rage as he was lifted from the ground, Yuuno's linker core rising from his chest. The white crystal was wrapped in pulsing, red growth that looked more like arteries than anything else. The tendrils found the Core, furling around it and sucking the growth off, peeling it away.

"Warnung. Entdeckte Datenbestechung. Das Fleck-Verbreiten." The Tome declared. "Unfähig, Prozess Halt machen zu lassen."

"Yes!" The Serpent's scream turned into laughter. "Take me into you!" He brought his head down to look Hayate in the eye even as the blue faded from his own. "I _will_ have you." Then the light vanished completely, and the tendrils reluctantly withdrew. Yuuno's linker core - shrunken, but not completely drained - sank back into his body. Yuuno, freed from the device's influence, collapsed to the floor.

A moment later, Hayate shared his fate, Reinforce Zwei being hurled from her body hard enough that something would have been catastrophically damaged had Zafira not managed to catch her before she hit the wall.


End file.
